This was an unusual Christmas for 79-year-old Ramona resident Barbara Roulier.
She was carjacked and kidnapped on Dec. 23 on her way to the grocery store.
"It was one of the more spiritual experiences I've ever lived through and I felt so divinely guided," Roulier told 10News.
Forty-five-year-old Ira Alexander Stringer is accused of kidnapping Roulier after authorities said he carjacked a high school assistant baseball coach and teenage player at batting practice in Kearny Mesa.
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The coach, Dylan Graham, crashed the Jeep he was driving and overpowered the assailant in the back seat, taking the gun.
Roulier said Graham is the hero.
"The kidnapper would have had that gun without the coach so he changed my life considerably," Roulier said.
Roulier didn't know her kidnapper was unarmed, as he pretended to have a gun in his pocket.
"The last thing he said to me when I was at State, right on the side of the road getting ready to have to turn was 'don't you dare jump out of this car,'" Roulier said.
She did.
They were at a red light on Ramona St., approaching Main St.
Right before she jumped she told him to take her car.
He did.
"You can either become a victim, or not," Roulier said.
But she wants to know where his life took a wrong turn.
"I have more questions about him than I do any of it," Roulier said.
"He has victimized a lot of people, but what victimized him? " Roulier said.
Roulier will write him a letter, and hopes to visit him in jail.
"First of all, I'm going to thank him that he didn't hurt me and I'm going to thank him that he put our car in a place I can have it back. It's the best car I ever had," Roulier said.
She thinks even in prison he can turn his life around.
"I don't know what's going to happen to him, but I know in my heart of hearts I will not stop praying for him," Roulier said. "There's a reason I met him."
